Silver-Zinc Batteries Coming in 2009

[Riemann Zeta]

Let me know where I can trade "Ions" on the commodity markets will you?

I was wondering the same thing. If anyone wants them, I've got a whole bunch of ions I can unload at rock bottom prices: some Na+, a little Ca++ and a whole lot of Cl-.

But any hoodly doodle, what is going to kill this company (other than the fact that their products are nothing but vaporware and have been for years) is the fact that their batteries are completely incompatible with current laptops. If people could buy these as drop-in upgrades, I could see them being very popular, but if they are only available on a couple of super-high end laptops and require expensive custom electronics...kiss of death.

I think lithium phosphate (LiFePO4) tech might be a good contender for a non-explosive replacement for Li-poly tech--it is more resistant to high temps, which is good, particularly for laptops with NVIDIA GPUs.

 

[BTW]

I recall that the major sticking point with silver-zinc was they were only good for a dozen cycles, not even close to the 500+ needed for a consumer device. Has anyone read otherwise?

I saw the CEO of the company on TV and he addressed that issue by saying that this technology has been in use for decades by NASA and they've just have refined and improved it for the consumer market. To me that would me that it will compete well with other technologies and probably meets the 500+ cycles.

This tech will definitely come at a premium at first so with no doubt it will be on high-end business grade laptops. I would expect to see this technology making its way into automotive soon as well. That's where the company call really make-up for their R&D costs.

Don't bet on seeing this battery technology in handheld devices for a few years from market release.

 

[gifford]

Obviously, Jobs knows better what I need in a laptop than I do....

He probably does.

 

[The Tall One]

Invented

Was superior battery technology not invented around 10 years ago only to be bought up my Exxon mobile or another gas company to smother any chance of competition with oil? If you were Exxon mobile, wouldn't you do that?

 

[maokh]

With the price of silver a concern, it makes you wonder if we just wont see batteries 40% smaller in size. I am also interested in charge/discharge rates, charging regimen, any "memory effects", etc.

Lithium is pretty kick ass. "Can has electron?" "Yes." "Okthx" ... you can just throw electrons at it without any worry.

In any case, near future lithium ion poly improvements could potentially reach 1000%. Even 1/20 of that claim would beat out a very expensive alternative.

 

[Shasterball]

I just hope they have some longevity...

 

[demondgale]

I wonder how they will compare in size? will they get even smaller? how sweet would that be, smaller, and more capacity.
===================
james
Virginia Alcohol Addiction Treatment

 

[winterspan]

Was superior battery technology not invented around 10 years ago only to be bought up my Exxon mobile or another gas company to smother any chance of competition with oil? If you were Exxon mobile, wouldn't you do that?

Not exactly.. And it was Chevron. They did own a significant share of an industrial company that had the patents for large form factor NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) batteries (think Prius and other first-gen hybrids), and they refused to license them for production for all but the largest of manufacturing runs. This created a situation where everyone from the individual hobbyist to start-up companies to major R&D corporations couldn't get their hands on the batteries to test and prototype hybrid systems. The only way you could get them would be to put in an enormous minimum order. This most likely had less to do with the low cost-efficiency of smaller production runs and more to do with plausible deniability from outside claims that they were withholding technology ("we will license it to anybody.. they just have to purchase a minimum order of 700 trillion units").

I believe Toyota finally got them to license it to them when they started developing the Prius. Regardless, although they are still used in Toyota hybrids among others, NiMH batteries are somewhat obsolete as new batteries based upon more advanced types of Lithium technology like Lithium-Nanophosphate (that doesn't explode thankfully) and others make their way into next-gen hybrid cars.

 

[yamabushi]

40%, dang, I would be happy with 10% increase...

Actually, both are right. 40% gain in energy by volume, 10% gain in energy by weight compared to lithium ion in the first demonstration battery. Charge cycle life is in the hundreds. There is expected room for dramatic improvement in both over time as the technology matures.

By the way, the size of the battery cell is fairly small. While multiple cells would be in a laptop battery, a single cell could fit in a larger cell phone or PDA. Of course other battery cell sizes are expected in the future.

They are also supposed to be nonflammable.

 

[iPhoneJoe]

it's about time a new battery technology came along

 

[kaiwai]

Was superior battery technology not invented around 10 years ago only to be bought up my Exxon mobile or another gas company to smother any chance of competition with oil? If you were Exxon mobile, wouldn't you do that?

Basically that is the one thing holding back an electric card - a light weight battery that can hold a tonne of power. If someone could create a battery that is light enough and on a single charge move a car 2,000km - that would basically make oil companies bankrupt overnight.

 

[carlgo]

Was superior battery technology not invented around 10 years ago only to be bought up my Exxon mobile or another gas company to smother any chance of competition with oil? If you were Exxon mobile, wouldn't you do that?

So Exxon wouldn't want to sell the electricity to charge the battery? How about gas for cars? Do they discourage fuel tanks to store their gas and want cars to trail 500 mile long gas hoses behind them? Batteries are just fuel tanks for electricity.

More likely that there is price-fixing and other collusion between the battery companies. The cost of even simple D cells and such is outrageous. I keep expecting to hear of some investigation.